Training & Support Materials

Tools, publications and materials from the Informing Families Project:

Best Practice Guidelines for Informing Families of their Child's Disability Click on the following link to download a PDF of the National Best Practice Guidelines for Informing Families of their Child's Disability. Best Practice Guidelines

Printable information for families in 7 languages:
This website provides translated materials for families in 7 additional languages. If you would like to find materials to print in other languages, please return to the home page and click on 'Information for Families'. Each of the elements of information is translated into Gaeilge, Polish, Romanian, Russian, French, Lithuanian and Brazilian Portuguese.

Words You Never Forget DVD:
This 24 minute documentary film was made by the Informing Families Project. It features the stories of two families who were informed of their child's disability; one family in a helpful way and another in a way that added distress. It is too large to download. Contact info@informingfamilies.ie to order a DVD copy.

Guidance on Implementation: The National Best Practice Guidelines for Informing Families of their Child's Disability were piloted in the Cork region, and this implementation was documented in a user-friendly roadmap for implementation:

As part of the Cork Pilot Implementation Project a one-page poster summarising the main points of the best practice guidelines was developed.This poster is based on the 'Safe Cross Code' message that was used for many years to help children remember how to cross the road safely.The 'Teamwork and Liaison' Working Group of the Informing Families Cork Project adapted this for use in remembering best practice when communicating difficult news to families.

E-Learning Module
Following on from the successful classroom-based training piloted through the Informing Families Project, an eLearning module has been developed to provide you with alternative access to the 'Informing Families' training programme. You can follow the eLearning module at a time and location convenient to you. Click here to access the E-learning Module

The module consists of a range of interactive learning tools structured into a programme that can be taken over a series of visits or in one session, according to your preference. The tools used to inform you on the central messages of the National Best Practice Guidelines for Informing Families of their Child’s Disabilityinclude video, research findings, practical recommendations for best practice, exercises applicable to each learner’s own setting and circumstances and resource materials. When you have completed the module, which takes approximately one hour, you can take an assessment. A certificate of completion will be awarded when the assessment is passed.

Consultation & Research Report of the Informing Families Project
A detailed report of the consultation and research undertaken to develop the National Best Practice Guidelines for Informing Families of their Child's Disability is available. This sets out in detail the evidence base for the Guidelines. Additionally a number of peer-reviewed journal articles have been published from this evidence.